Grammy Awards to Stream in China for First Time (EXCLUSIVE)

The Grammy Awards are coming to Chinese computers and phones for the first time next month, with the Recording Academy minting an agreement with LeEco’s live-streaming service LeMusic to stream the Feb. 15 telecast.

LeEco (formerly LeTV) recently struck deals to stream Wimbledon and Major League Baseball in China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Hong Kong streaming rights for Barclays Premier League soccer. But this year’s Grammys will be its first major American awards broadcast.

“We’re opening our entire ecosystem and more than 53 million daily users to the world’s biggest music award show,” said Eric Mika, SVP of open ecosystems, strategic alliances and partnerships at LeEco.

Although last year’s U.S. Grammy viewership was down 11% from the previous year on TV, streaming via CBS.com increased by more than 40%. With multiple nominations for Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, as well as a scheduled performance from Adele, this year’s broadcast should be strong on performers with global appeal.

As LeMusic CEO Liang Yin noted in a statement, “This agreement underscores our belief in the power of content and our determination to deliver this to online China consumers in a compelling way.”